


Linger

by ADazzlingConspiracy



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Book and Movie, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 07:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12103605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADazzlingConspiracy/pseuds/ADazzlingConspiracy
Summary: Richie and Eddie had been the best of pals, back in the day. But now they are all grown up, recollecting all the times they spent together. A playful jaunt of what happens when two pals who were once more than just friends, meet up once again to put evil back in its place. - Adults in 2016, Kids in 1989.





	Linger

**Author's Note:**

> This is taking info from both It (2017) and the book that will be alternating POVs from Eddie to Richie. Some things are just made up, others are canon.

This night was like every night. Myra curled up to me closely, slightly wheezing as she somewhat suffocated herself with her own dirty pillows. I brought up to her many times to sleep on her back for maximum airflow to her lungs, but each night she curled up on her side and sounded like a mouse being slowly crushed between two walls where it thought it could fit. I was reading a recent journal article released by a team of doctors talking about the detriments of using too much hand sanitizer on my phone. The study revealed that by using it actually strengthened the .1% of bacteria through careful evolution which in turn would produce “Super Bugs”. These Super Bugs have the potential to be deadlier and to infect more rapidly. Gooseflesh rippled across my skin.

I could hear my mother’s long dead voice echoing throughout my head. “See, I warned ya Eddie. Those super buggies are going to borrow into your flesh and eat your eyes out. Do you want that Eddie? Do ya? THEN LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER.” I placed the journal down on my nightstand, trying to push aside all thoughts of mother.

It had been a few weeks since he thought about mother dearest. From a therapist’s standpoint it would be considered progress. But how do you get rid of the woman who popped ya right outta her…body, raised you, and then just grow up to marry her. A grimace formed on my lips. Psychological-incest is what my ever so helpful therapist told me. After that I stopped seeing him because I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me. Like I, _Edward Kaspbrak,_ was dirty. I’m not dirty. I. Am not. Dirty. IAMNOTDIRTY.

I got out of bed, heading to the bathroom where the plethora of medications and other remedies for ailments lived. I took a peek at them, making sure they were all there. What if during the night I got a cough and needed the soothing relief of Vic’s? Or what if I fell out of the bed and knocked my head off the nightstand? I’d need Myra to temporarily patch me up as I wait on the unreliable ambulance. Anything can happen during the night, when the world is supposed to be at its most peaceful. But I knew the truth about darkness. It’s when things become the most clear and the truth is no longer washed out by the sun.

 I washed my face and hands for a few minutes trying to cleanse myself of my mother, my wife, and those dastardly super bugs.  Trying not to think of the anti-bacterial soap that I keep stocked under the bathroom sink, I rinsed and went back into bed. Myra was now snoring softly but at least she was no longer wheezing like a trapped animal. Did she feel as trapped in their marriage as I did? It felt more like a rite of passage or an obligation than a want or a desire. Was there a time in her life where she was actually in love with a man who truly loved her back? Instead of with a shell of a man, trying to just get by in life.

Sleep came easy, all regrets and thoughts about super bugs slipped away into the stream of darkness. The hours trickled by and my brain and body soaked up the rest is so desperately needed. When REM sleep began, so did the dreams.

Familiar brown eyes were only inches away from my own. “Eddie Spaghetti, wake up.”

 I jumped up, startled.

 “Eds, why are you looking at me like I just took a shit on your mom’s chest?” Head tilted, eyes wide and curious.

“Richie?” I whisper, unable to believe it. I haven’t thought about Richie in years. What was he doing here?

“Well, no duh it’s me. Who else has this sexy mug?” Richie winks as that familiar, devilish grin appears.  My heart flutters in my chest. _Why did that just happen?_

I couldn’t contain myself. My arms flew open as I wrapped them around Richie’s neck. Tears of joy streamed down my face. I never thought I would see him again. The day he left  Derry my heart broke. That was the first time my heart broke and it was never quite the same after that. But here, now, none of that mattered.

“Jeez, Eds, you’re getting my shirt wet, lay off.” Yet he didn’t push me away, he just stayed as he was, letting me cry it out.

 _Why was I crying so hard? He was just a childhood friend…_ and my inner voice chimed back with _: yeah, but a friend that you went to hell and back with._ I didn’t want to think about _It_ , I just wanted to focus on Richie now. Please let me have this.

The dream didn’t shift, no swirl of darkness, Richie didn’t fade away. Here he and I sat, I eventually let go of him.

“Eds,” Richie started.  
 “I told you not to call me that.” I puffed up, attempting to be as threatening as possible.

“I’ll call you whatever I damn well please!” Richie reached over, ruffling my hair. I wrestled his arm away, pinning it next to him. With his free arm he used it to push against my chest, gently. Which caused me to fall backwards. We wrestled for a bit, him of course coming out on top. At that point, I needed to use my inhaler. I inhaled a puff of the medicine, feeling it work it’s magic on my lungs.

“Why haven’t you thought about me?” Richie adverted his gaze, as if he was embarrassed to be forgotten.

I couldn’t find the words for a moment. My mouth was dry and my heart hammered against my ribs, as the guilt rose up in my throat. I choked on it, hacking up a storm. “I’m sorry, Richie.” Was all I could manage to mutter.

“I thought about you, ya know. Everytime I woke up, everytime I went to bed. I just…couldn’t stop thinking about you.” Richie said softly and slowly. As if, he said them too fast he would lose his cool. Suddenly, Richie stood up. “But whatever. You don’t have a choice but to think of me now.” He smirked to cover up his quivering lower lip.

“Richie, I…”

“Let’s go find Bill and the others. I’m sure they are going to want to see you.” Richie started running ahead of me. Fog started to roll in, in small tendrils as first then as rolling hungry clouds.

“Richie! Wait for me!”

“EDDIE!” Richie screamed out into the oncoming darkness.

I skidded to a halt, yelling for Richie. It sounded as if he was surrounding me on all sides. Which was the truth? Eventually, silence set in and my blood ran cold. “No.”  I muttered. _Not Again_. Golden dots floated in the fog. The silence was deafening so I called out to Richie again. No answer.

“Richie, please! I-I’m so sorry I didn’t think of you! Please come back!” I was sobbing now. I had lost him again and I was all alone. “I’ll always remember you!”

A hand around my neck and pointed teeth in my face greeted me. “And I won’t forget you EDDIE!” It shrieked. The dream dissipated and I awoke with a jolt. I couldn’t breathe and I grasped at my constricted chest, struggling to let in oxygen. I fumbled with the light switch, turning on the lamp. I rummaged through the nightstand for my inhaler I haven’t used for quite some time. More labored breaths passed my lips as I took a hit off the inhaler. Sweet relief flooded my lungs. I took another puff for good measure.  

“I remember you, Richie.” I muttered as Myra stirred at my side. Little did I know that this was a call to arms.


End file.
